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Monaco
FP12d 15h
Kimi Antonelli didn't rule out a future move to Ferrari, but insisted his focus is on winning with Mercedes as he leads the championship. Speaking at the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy event, Antonelli said: “Ferrari is a huge team with an incredible following and will remain in history forever,” but added: “I am a Mercedes driver, and my goal is to win with Mercedes.” Ahead of Monaco, he also tipped Ferrari as the benchmark, saying: “I think Ferrari's going to be the team to beat in Monaco.”
Honda chief engineer Shintaro Orihara said the manufacturer has carried out “dedicated preparation” with Aston Martin to get its power unit ready for the unique demands of the Monaco Grand Prix, with a focus on energy management and cooling. Orihara said: "Circuit de Monaco is very unique, and our power units require dedicated preparation to adapt to the conditions. We have conducted specific driver-in-loop (DiL) sessions at the AMR Technology Campus to optimise our energy management setting. On the cooling side, Monaco's slow speed sections make this challenging. We need to find a good cooling specification, working closely with Aston Martin Aramco to achieve this for the power unit in clean air and heavy traffic, which is common here."
Honda says its first “proper” engine upgrade for Aston Martin is unlikely to arrive until around F1’s summer shutdown, but it expects drivability gains as early as this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. Trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara said: “Drivability is very critical in Monaco… we found the way to improve our drivability… they will work hard to improve by Monaco - that is our main target.” He added that the next development step should come “around the summer shutdown”.
Nico Rosberg says Lewis Hamilton is not yet at the level required to win a record-breaking eighth Formula 1 world championship with Ferrari, and does not think the car is good enough for a title bid. Rosberg said: "Yes, of course, and he would deserve it. It would be great to see him keep progressing as he has into this year. And I think he will win a race at least this year. But to get the championship, the car is not good enough, and his level is not quite there yet, but hopefully he can still improve throughout the season."
Nico Rosberg says Mercedes discussed suspending both him and Lewis Hamilton for a race after they crashed into each other on the opening lap of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. Rosberg said: "It never came to being fired. No, but I know he actually had internal discussions with the big boss, Dieter Zetsche, about taking a step. I don't think it was about being fired; it was probably a suspension or something that would have been a first step - for a race, yeah, something like that. So there was actually that conversation behind closed doors."
Jolyon Palmer says Ferrari have a "golden chance" to win this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix because the strengths of their car should suit the circuit, even though their power unit has been a weakness so far this season. Palmer said: "The Ferrari car is not only a brilliant chassis, but it's great off the line, which at the moment they still hold that advantage. However, the power unit on the Ferrari is their weakness, and it's very difficult for a driver to have too much say on that. But, Ferrari has a golden chance to win in Monaco because of the way that their car is."
Nico Rosberg says his crashes with former Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton were “probably more my fault than his fault”, because Hamilton’s “genius” made their on-track battles harder to manage. Rosberg said: "It’s all these details that add up, and then in the heat of the moment, that preparation helps to hold your ground and not yield, and unfortunately, then of course it led to quite a few crashes and, unfortunately, because Lewis is such a genius, most of the time it was more my fault than his fault. But it didn't matter, in hindsight, for me, I had to do that because it sent a message to him."
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies says the team has confirmed the performance step made with its upgrade introduced in Miami and believes it has moved closer to the front, while warning the picture can still be affected by track layout. Mekies said: "Big picture, I see at the very least we have confirmed the Miami steps. I think we've done a bit more on the Miami step in the way that I think we have managed to take another bit of performance away from the top guys. Just looking at the lap time, it was three tenths in quali, but I think [in the race] we were a bit closer than the half a second deficit that we had in Miami."
Lando Norris says Ferrari are the favourites for pole position at this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix because their low-speed performance is stronger than their rivals'. Norris said: "Honestly, I think that Ferrari will be on pole next weekend in Monaco. Their low-speed performance is far better than everyone else."
Williams has hired AI and data specialist Dr James Smith as its new chief information officer in a newly-created senior leadership role. Smith, who has worked at Google and DeepMind and co-founded Human Native AI, said: “I am excited to be joining Atlassian Williams F1 Team at a moment when data and AI are becoming increasingly important to performance both on and off the track.” Team principal James Vowles added: “The latest battleground in F1 is the ability to harness data and AI across all parts of the team.”
RacingNews365 reports Formula 1 is set for a largely trouble-free Monaco Grand Prix weekend on the weather front, with current forecasts (as of 12:30 BST on Tuesday, 2 June) pointing to hot, dry conditions throughout, with temperatures in the mid-to-high 20C range. The outlet adds there is a chance of rain overnight between Thursday and Friday, but it should have cleared before track action begins, while a larger storm system crossing the Atlantic is expected to dissipate over mainland Europe and not affect the grand prix.
Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad said the team’s updates working well in Montreal gives him hope of being competitive when he heads to Monaco for the first time in an F1 car. Lindblad said: "Obviously it's hard to compare circuits. But for sure in the end, both these tracks are street circuits, both of them have kerbs, have low speed. I think it's always hard to know, but the updates worked really well here, there's similarities to Monaco, so hopefully we should be competitive there as well."
McLaren boss Andrea Stella says the team’s start to the 2026 Formula 1 season has been “below our expectations” as they deal with a “challenging” opening run of races. Stella said: "The start of the season has been challenging. We have had issues of a different kind. It's definitely below what would have been our expectation, to be in contention for the championship."
Audi F1 boss Mattia Binotto says the team is not in negotiations with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen because it is “not yet ready” to offer him a car capable of fighting for victories. Binotto said: "No, we are not. I'm not. And the reason why is I think we are not yet ready for it as a team. If Max would join, you need to offer him a platform which is a proper platform where he can fight for victories."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says Formula 1 must fully enforce the principle that it is a championship between independent constructors, after McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown wrote to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem about alliances between teams. Andrea Stella said: "Very clear on a principle that I would really be curious to see if any of the stakeholders in Formula 1 disagrees with, and the fact that this is a championship between independent constructors. We believe very strongly that this principle should be enforced totally."
Cadillac has chosen Dynisma to supply a new “top of the range” driver-in-the-loop simulator for its expanding F1 operation. The Bristol-based firm will provide a DMG-360XY simulator, set to be installed at Cadillac’s growing hub in Indiana, with the team saying it will support vehicle development, driver preparation and set-up work. Cadillac chief technical officer Nick Chester said: “Selecting the right simulator platform is a key decision for any Formula 1 team. Dynisma's technology gives us the level of fidelity, responsiveness and correlation we were looking for.”
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